Long Beach district to phase in Common Core over 3-year period

LONG BEACH - While the Los Angeles Unified School District is implementing new state education standards in the coming year, many other area school districts are at various stages of launching the initiative by 2014.

In the Long Beach Unified School District, administrators have formed a special task force to help teachers and school principals prepare for Common Core State Standards.

Deputy Superintendent Christine Dominguez said the state's third largest school district is working to phase in Common Core over a three-year period. The district started the process in the 2011-2012 school year with extensive training and preparation for teachers in areas including math, language arts and special education.

Dominguez said the new standards call for a shift in the way teachers teach. As part of the Common Core, teachers will delve deeper into subjects and encourage critical thinking. Students will write narrative essays and learn how to construct arguments. Reading lessons, writing assignments and math problems will be more demanding across grade levels.

"They'll be major changes in the way instruction is delivered," she said.

"The focus is to prepare students for college and teach them how to apply their skills in a real-world setting."

For the 2012-2013 school year, the district will begin incorporating components of the Common Core. As part of the process, the coming school year will see a greater focus on English-language arts and math skills.

Teachers will start to reduce the number of instructions based on the California standards in favor of more in-depth instructions on newer standards.

Tests will have more essay-style questions and fewer multiple choice questions.

The district expects to have the new standards implemented by the end of the 2013-2014 school year, Dominguez said.

The plan differs from Los Angeles Unified, which has chosen to phase in Common Core by grade, starting with kindergarten, first, sixth and ninth grades.

The LBUSD, along with Los Angeles Unified and 13 other urban school districts in the country, is participating in a Common Core pilot program led by the Aspen Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based educational and policy studies organization. Under the pilot program, urban school districts work together to support and implement Common Core.

LBUSD Curriculum Director Pamela Seki said the program has been key in helping the district implement the new standards.

"It's been a very rich development opportunity for us because some of the districts on the East Coast are a year ahead and we've been able to learn from their experiences," she said.

The LBUSD is now working with surrounding school districts in Paramount, Bellflower, Santa Ana and Garden Grove to serve as a model program, she added.

While LBUSD educators say they're looking forward to the changes, the transition will no doubt face challenges.

Dominguez said one of the biggest challenges is technology. As part of the standards, students will be required to use computers and tablets for test-taking and other activities. Dominguez said cash-strapped school districts, like the LBUSD, will have difficulty finding funding for the new technology.

"It will be a roadblock for students in a lot of states," she said.

Nonetheless, Dominguez said she believes the changes will benefit all students in the district.

"I find where we're going to be very exciting," she said. "I think our kids are ready for the transition. It's going to be a challenge, but it's exactly what our kids need to prepare for college and go out in the workplace."

Dominguez said the school district next year will use a communication outreach campaign to help parents understand the new system.

In the meantime, educators have a few tips for parents to help their children prepare.

Seki said parents should encourage their children to read a more balanced selection books, including nonfiction books on science, history and other informational topics. Parents are encouraged to help their young children learn basic math skills, since children will begin learning math at a younger age.

"Encourage the child to stick with something that's difficult and praise the child when they've been persistent and solved the problem," she said.

"Common Core is focused on critical thinking, and that's something we need to model and support at home as well."